


Marine Life Mating Rituals

by christchex



Series: Shark Bait [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Michael Sanders AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29758965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/christchex/pseuds/christchex
Summary: Michael Sanders loves three things: his Dad, his shark plushie, and Alex Manes.Michael and Alex 'dating' through the years.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Shark Bait [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085327
Comments: 19
Kudos: 76





	Marine Life Mating Rituals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [haloud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haloud/gifts).



> For Hal, who just deserves a lot of cute fluff and happiness. This was originally going to be posted for Valentines Day... but I managed to get one section done instead of the 10 so... yeah. Hal, I hope you love it!

Michael held his dad’s hand as they walked down the red and pink aisle at the Dollar Store. They had already been to their usual grocery store and had come out empty handed. None of the cards there were right.

It had taken a little bit of time for his dad to explain to him exactly what was going on. It was a holiday at school, where you gave everyone a little card and a small piece of candy to show you care about them. Walt had written out his class list carefully, to make sure they would have enough. Michael had tried to cross out one name- Mark- because Michael did not care about him. He was mean and made fun of Sharkey. He also made fun of Alex too, which was even worse.

Dad had explained that no, you give them to everyone so no one felt left out. At Michael’s pout and him underlining Alex’s name with a crayon, Walt agreed that maybe Alex deserved something special.

After all, Dad had explained that it was a holiday to show you loved someone. He loved his dad, so he was drawing him an extra-special picture at school. He loved Sharkey, so he made him a small little heart he would pin to him for Valentine’s Day. He needed something extra special for Alex because he loved him too.

All the cards at the market were boring. There were hearts and lots of words, nothing good enough for Alex. Alex already had a regular card with his name on it, an awesome cartoon shark holding a heart that was bigger than all the other ones, but it wasn’t enough. None of it was enough.

“How about this one Shark Bait?” Dad asked as he handed Michael a card. This one was definitely cooler than the other ones. There were hearts all over it still, but they looked like they were painted, like when they got to use the brushes in art class. It was cooler, but still not cool enough for Alex.

Michael signed NO before he handed the card back to his dad. There had to be something awesome enough for Alex. There had to be. They looked through every card in the shop, even the birthday cards even though it was not Alex’s birthday. They didn’t find anything.

“Sorry kid,” Dad said as they left the red and pink aisle and went to grab a bag of lollipops for his class gift. 

Michael looked at his dad as he held the bag of lollipops. He tried his hardest to make him understand how upset he was. He still wasn’t very good at signing, but he tried his best to relay PERFECT, PRESENT, and ALEX and hoped his dad understood him, like he generally did.

“I know, nothing’s good enough for Alex,” his dad said as they walked to the check out. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything that is.” He looked around the store one last time and stopped. Michael tried to get on his tiptoes so he could see what made his dad stop, but it was too high up. Dad reached out and grabbed a pack of stickers.

They were the coolest stickers Michael had ever seen. There were stars and planets, but there were also a whole bunch of sharks wearing what looked like space suits. They were amazing.

“How about we make Alex the perfect card instead?” Dad asked. “We have paper at home. How about it, Shark Bait?”

Michael grinned at his dad and signed YES before he ran to the checkout counter. It was going to be perfect.

-

Michael worried at Sharkey’s dorsal fin while he waited for Alex. Alex was normally one of the first kids at school, since his older brothers had to be dropped off at the middle school after him. He had his bag of Valentines for the class on the back table, where his teacher had set up mailboxes for them, but his special card for Alex was sitting in his cubby waiting for Alex to find it.

Michael gave Sharkey’s fin another tug as he watched the door. He hoped Alex would like the card. His dad had written out his note- You are my best friend and I love you- and Michael had very carefully traced over the words. The card had to be perfect. And it was. Now Alex just had to see it. 

Michael had just moved from playing with Sharkey’s fin to fixing the heart pinned to his side when Alex came running through the door.

“Alex! We do not run in the classroom,” Ms. Agetha, the classroom aide, said.

“I’m sorry Ms. Agetha! I was worried I’d be late!” He stopped running and slowed his walk so he could put his own bag of Valentines on the table. He moved to his cubby and started to open his backpack.

He didn’t even look inside the cubby. Michael watched from his desk, worried that Alex would miss his extra special card. Michael watched from his seat, torn between following the classroom rules and wanting to run to Alex. 

He stays in his seat, but only just. He doesn’t want Mrs. B to make her sad face at him. He watched as Alex pulled out a card and neatly placed it on top of the stack of cubbies. He closed his bag and went to hang it up when he stopped. Michael held his breath as he watched Alex reach for the card. The outside had stars and planets, with all the colors of space and the shark stickers on top. Alex’s smile grew huge. Michael let out the breath he was holding.

Alex opened the card, smiled harder somehow, and then hugged it to his chest. Michael watched as he finished putting his stuff away, grabbed the card from on top of the cubbies, along with Michael’s extra-specifical card.

He walked to Michael’s desk, careful not to get called out again. He got to Michael’s desk and threw his arms around Michael in a hug.

“You’re my best friend too!” He said into Michael’s hair. He let go and handed Michael a card. “I made this for you. I hope you like it.”

Alex waited while Michael opened the card. The outside had two stick figures holding hands. The wild curls on one was obviously Michael, while the other had a small ring of dark hair around it’s head like Alex’s own short haircut. The inside of the card had heart and shark stickers. Alex’s messy handwriting spelled out “I lov you Michael!”

It was perfect.

Michael stood up, even though once you got to your desk you had to stay in your seat, so he could give Alex a proper hug.

I LOVE YOU Michael signed to Alex. He knew Alex understood.

They hugged one more time before Alex went to his seat. Michael looked at his card again. He couldn’t wait to show his dad and then hang it on the fridge.


End file.
